MASON, Ohio – In typical Ashland University baseball fashion, the Eagles fought tooth and nail on Saturday (May 14) at Prasco Park, winning the first 2022 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament championship game against Walsh, 8-6, before losing the deciding game to the Cavaliers, 8-5.
The Eagles are 35-19, and will await a potential postseason call during the NCAA Division II baseball selection show on Sunday (May 15) at 10 p.m. on NCAA.com. The Cavaliers are 30-21, and will move on to the D-II playoffs.
WHAT HAPPENED – GAME ONE
- The Eagles scored first in the first championship game, as freshman second baseman Ian Sanders hit a run-scoring single up the middle in the top of the second inning. Senior designated hitter Tim Zeller followed with a two-run gapper double in the top of the third to make it a 3-0 game.
- Walsh dented the scoreboard in the bottom of the third on an RBI groundout, but senior shortstop Austin Eifrid got the run back in the top of the fourth with a two-out double down the left-field line.
- The Cavaliers continued to mount a comeback, scoring twice in the bottom of the fourth to cut the deficit to 4-3. Ashland kept the volleying back and forth going with an RBI single from senior first baseman Micah Allen and an RBI double from Sanders in the top of the fifth, making it a 6-3 count.
- Allen added to the cushion in the top of the seventh with a solo home run to left-center field for a 7-3 bulge, but the Cavaliers weren't done, as a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh cut their deficit in half to 7-5.
- A solo Walsh homer made it a 7-6 game in the bottom of the eighth, but the Cavaliers left runners at second and third when senior closer Perry Bewley notched a key strikeout to end the frame. Ashland added an insurance run on a double play in the top of the ninth, then Bewley became the first Ashland pitcher in program history to have back-to-back double-digit save seasons.
- In AU's 15-hit attack, Eifrid was 4-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI, senior left fielder Seth Schroeder and Allen each were 3-for-5 (Allen three runs scored, a double, home run and two RBIs), and Zeller and Sanders each had two hits and two RBIs.
- Zeller's 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief moved him to 3-0 on the season.
WHAT HAPPENED – GAME TWO
- Saturday's second title contest saw Walsh score four unearned runs in the top of the first following three Eagle errors. The early AU comeback attempt began with a Sanders RBI single in the bottom of the first, but the Cavaliers went back on top by four in the top of the third.
- A Walsh RBI double made it a 6-1 game in the top of the fourth, but sophomore third baseman Devin Hukill drove a two-run double to left-center field in the bottom of the frame for a 6-3 deficit.
- In the top of the seventh, the Cavaliers added a pair of runs to bump their advantage to 8-3, but Allen kept Eagle hopes alive in the bottom with a two-run triple to right-center. Walsh, however, kept AU at bay the rest of the way.
- Eifrid, Schroeder and Sanders each had two of Ashland's 11 hits, and Allen and Hukill each drove in two runs.
- Senior righty Josh Stover (1-3) yielded three hits, five runs (one earned) and a walk and struck out three in 3 1/3 frames.
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